Be certain - Gopher-rejects-chants-sure-to-come-this-weekend kind of certain - that the baseball schedule-making system does not have a personality, but does have parameters.
Why else would it be that the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs will begin this fast-approaching regular season right where they wish they had ended the last: playing each other.
Out of the only division in the league that has six teams, these are the only two that matter, which is why it's worth looking at the lengths the Brewers and Cubs have gone to build on last year's playoff-unworthy clubs.
Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin made it clear by word and deed that the team's focus in the offseason was the bullpen. The Brewers' headline free-agent signing, closer Eric Gagne, only goes so far to fill the void left by the henceforth overpaid Francisco Cordero.
Gone are Scott Linebrink, Matt Wise, Chris Spurling and Greg Aquino. The pitchers Melvin is hoping will improve a bullpen ERA that ranked in the bottom third of the National League: Gagne, Guillermo Mota, David Riske and Salomon Torres. Melvin's trend toward veterans leads to the belief that the bullpen, an area of concern a short time ago, is going to be better.
The shift toward more established players and defense is seen with the position players, too. While the Brewers never publicly acknowledged it during last season, followers knew that Johnny Estrada would not pass muster with Ned Yost and the team philosophy for long. It was a shrewd move by Melvin to sign Jason Kendall - in many ways Estrada's opposite - and to let Geoff Jenkins walk.
Really, the Brewers did not need any more punch in their lineup; they needed more discipline. Kendall fits that mold, but the signing of Mike Cameron hardly does. Cameron, once he returns from suspension, will be the team's centerfielder, but Milwaukee needs to be striking out less, not more. This was a curious move by Melvin that deserves close scrutiny, as does his plan with the glut of starting pitching.
Down in Chicago, general manager Jim Hendry made fewer moves for the Cubs, winners of the division title last year, in a war of non-attrition. While generally a good pitching and fielding team, Chicago struggled to hit for any power last year. It's difficult to say how much progress they made, unless you know how Kosuke Fukudome, the star Japanese outfielder, will adjust to playing in the Major Leagues.
If Fukudome puts up stats like he did in 2006 - .351, 31 home runs, 104 runs batted in - then that's worrisome for opposing teams. If not, the Cubs will only have another overpaid player on their hands.
The Brewers can be thankful that Jacque Jones is no longer on the Cubs roster, since he caused problems at the plate far too often last season at Wrigley Field. It looks like the Cubs are ready to give Felix Pie a full-time spot in the outfield, although it would not be inappropriate to ask what he did last year to earn that?
Overall, Milwaukee has made more changes, which seems logical for the team that finished in second-place. Except that the Brewers were the first-place team in the Central for a long time last year. More likely than not, Chicago and Milwaukee will be, in Yost terms, battling into late September again.
And, unlike last year, the schedule will be the way it should. For their last series of the season, just as the first, Milwaukee and Chicago will play ball.
E-mail Jon at bortin@wisc.edu to discuss the NL Central.
